A man accused of helping kill Phillip Marshal Hughey and dump his body wrapped in a rug near a rural Anderson County road pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 33 years in prison with credit for time served. The plea hearing for Jared Tierce wrapped up Monday, more than three years after Hughey was reported missing from the Williamston area.
Hughey's body was found down an embankment near the side of Cox Lake Road, according to FOX Carolina, which reported he had been missing for several days before he was located. His body showed multiple traumatic injuries, the station reported, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Accounts differ on exactly when Hughey was last seen. The State reported he was last seen on Aug. 20, 2023, near Williamston, with his body found Aug. 22 off the side of a road and down an embankment. WSPA, however, reported Hughey was last seen in the Williamston area on Aug. 19, with his body discovered days later wrapped in a rug bearing many evident traumatic injuries near Cox Lake Road close to Campbell Road in Belton.
What Investigators Say Happened
Investigators allege Tierce put a ratchet strap around Hughey's neck and applied force while a second man, Jacob Barber, stabbed Hughey multiple times, according to FOX Carolina; WSPA reported that the allegations came from arrest warrants. Barber was also charged with murder in the case, though the station's report did not address the current status of his case.
Two women were arrested afterward in connection with the killing. The Anderson County Sheriff's Office charged 26-year-old Angel Bellis and 21-year-old Cassidy Cheek with accessory after the fact of murder, according to WSPA. Deputies said Cheek destroyed evidence by burning Hughey's clothes, while Bellis saw his body after the crime but did not report it to law enforcement.
Motive Still Unclear
Deputies told The State that the motive in the slaying was unclear, and the status of the two women's accessory cases was not addressed in the available reporting. South Carolina law, under Section 16-3 of the South Carolina Code of Laws, requires that a person convicted of or pleading guilty to murder be punished by death or by a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 30 years to life; the specific legal basis for Tierce's 33-year sentence was not detailed in the reporting.
FOX Carolina's Ashley Listrom reported details from Monday's hearing as it unfolded. The case remains an open thread for Barber and for the two women charged as accessories, whose legal outcomes have not yet been reported.
